Komomo Confiserie (Volume 1) Review

Synopsis:“Komomo is a spoilt princess who enjoys bossing her servants around. She has taken a particular liking to Natsu, the son of her family’s favorite patissier; so the poor boy has to endure every one of her whims until his family moves away to France.

Years later, Komomo’s family has lost their social standing, and the inexperienced girl is left in the care of strangers. Around the same time, Natsu returns to Japan as an acclaimed patissier. How will their paths cross after their lives and positions have changed so much?”

I was super excited to read this newer series as I am a fan of some of Maki Minami’s older works, especially Special A, and I was curious if this work would be as good. And I got to tell you, I am glad that I picked it up.

From the very beginning I started to love it. Watching young Komomo interact with young Natsu even if she went pretty overboard sometimes teasing him was kinda funny. Kind of felt bad for Natsu though.

Ever since she was young Komomo’s parents would not always be there so she relied on Natsu’s sweets and Natsu’s sweets only to sooth her. She feels so much comfort that she begins to cry upon tasting it.

As the story progresses we get out of backstory area and into the present day plot which is where the rest of the story takes place. We get to see just how current Komomo is dealing with abject poverty and frankly she’s handling it well emotionally (cutting out a lot of the ‘woe is me, I’m not rich anymore’ which is refreshing). As for how she’s handling having to work, that’s not going so well. She’s proven to be quite lazy about her jobs and as a result gets fired many many times.

Just when she thinks she’s all but hopeless a tv special showing her childhood “friend” shows in a display window as he announces his return to Japan from France. Not liking the news, as he would see her in her current state of poverty, she heads into hiding of sorts only to be quickly found out. Much to her dismay.

Now’s as good a time than any to talk about Natsu’s character. In the past it seems he was very tolerant and let Komomo run things so to speak and when he returns seems to have more of an established mature attitude. He’s kind to her, asks if she would mind helping at the family cafe only for this image to be shattered once she starts working there. He demands high productivity from Komomo who is too busy trying to sneak sweets rather than actually working.

Komomo eventually has a breakdown after running back to her old home and Natsu offers a job at his father’s shop once more only for things take a turn with Natsu turning out to be not quite what he seems.

All this being said I really enjoyed the way the two character’s played off of each other and even when a third character, Yuri Lacroix, is introduced the series doesn’t lose it’s charm. I find all the characters to be appealing visually and the same goes for their personality.

Speaking of the being visually appealing, the art is gorgeous. Every dessert and food item looks too good to be true and the attention to Komomo’s western style’d clothing is something to be noted.

Another thing I like how this volume specifically deals with the various forms of bullying. There is your childhood “I’m better than you” bullying, your blackmail, teasing, and even some school bullies that try to take things too far. But they are really no match for Komomo’s strong will.

All-in-all I really liked volume one and I can’t think of anything that was overwhelmingly negative or that I didn’t enjoy (I think that all depends on what bothers you in a Shoujo manga). The characters were well-rounded, the art was pretty, there was even a fair bit of character development present towards the end of volume one. I must say I really look forward to volume two.

Score 8.5/10

Should you read it? If you’re a fan of shoujo manga or romance then yes.